Black Women Are Tired Of Being The Subject Of Your Ignorant Memes

Last week, when Trick Daddy released that ignorant azz video telling Black hoes to tighten up before they become useless, there were so many people who wondered why this video, from this washed up rapper had solicited so much outrage. The thing is, it’s not just Trick Daddy. If it were just Trick Daddy, this would have been a non-story. The man hasn’t released relevant music in years. He’s not on anyone’s most attractive man list. To give you the hard truth, most of us don’t think about Trick Daddy on a daily basis, unless “Shut Up” pops into our heads. And even then it’s only the chorus.

The problem with Trick Daddy’s message was that it was one of many. So many. Those who don’t live life as Black women might not understand it. There are attacks lodged at us every single day. From everybody. They come from White men. They come from White women. They come from Black men and most shockingly and most hurtfully, they come from Black women themselves. So when Trick Daddy said that we were on the verge of becoming useless, it just so happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. And Black women of the internet unleashed a fury. If you don’t believe Trick Daddy is just one of many. I’ll direct your attention to this meme circulating its way around social media.

The apostrophe in “degrees,” the redundancy of “vacation trips”, the notion that buying a house or enrolling a child in little league is not helping Black folk. It just makes you want to shake your head in both confusion and disgust. This person could actually learn a thing or thousand from Black women. But no. Instead of this particular man celebrating the fact that Black women, likely his own people are defying racism and sexism to achieve with unprecedented success, he finds a way to piss on it. Instead of this man trying to figure out a way that he can emulate this success, he’d rather diminish not only the accomplishment but also what the accomplishment means to the community as a whole.

You see, somewhere along the way folks have forgotten— or refuse to acknowledge the front and backbone we are for this community. It is Black women who birth the community. It is Black women who raise the community and it’s still Black women who build up the community. So please believe when Black women graduate from college and earn advanced level degrees, it’s a win for all of us, all Black people. You can believe that they’re going to use that knowledge to make life better for the Black children they’re raising or the ones in their community, the Black women they know and love and, for better or worse, Black men. The ones who they love. The ones who could use a helping hand and even the ones who have used the internet to disparage Black women like them. That’s just how success, if harnessed properly, works. It ripples and helps even those who tried to tear you down along the way. Just ask the White folks, racist, privileged and entitled alike, who’ve benefitted from Black people’s contributions in this country.

Trick Daddy, this meme and the messaging Black women receive is anything but new. And that’s why there’s so much discussion around these incidents, we’re tired.